There were many high-minded, noble-hearted young men, who could not tamely submit to authority, and were prone to insubordination, and who only needed the right kind of discipline to make them earnest and faithful men and useful citizens.

There were few, if any, dunces or blockheads among them, for a life on shipboard had no attractions for such boys.

They were, almost without an exception, wide-awake, bold, daring fellows, who had a taste for stirring events; fellows who wanted to climb the Rocky Mountains, visit the North Pole, and explore the Mammoth Cave.

They were full of fun and mischief and it would have been easy at any time to get up a party among them to march the principal's cow into the parlor of the Academy; to climb to the belfry on a winter's night, and fill the inverted bell with water, where it would freeze solid before morning; or to convey the occupants of the hen-coop to the recitation room.
It was Mr.Lowington's task to repress the mischief in these boys, to keep them occupied with work and play, and to develop their moral and mental capacities.

He had doubtless taken a heavy load upon himself but he felt that he was to labor for his race and his country.